


I'd Fight the Galaxy for You

by dreaming_wide_awake



Category: The 100 (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Clexa Week 2019, F/F, Mass Effect/Firefly/Clexa mash up, Other tags to be added, Rating May Change, space
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-03-03
Updated: 2019-08-17
Packaged: 2019-11-08 19:37:46
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 13,614
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17987342
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dreaming_wide_awake/pseuds/dreaming_wide_awake
Summary: Lexa is the Commander of a warship, while on a planet scouting mission they receive a distress signal from another ship, upon investigation they find that nothing is as it seems.orThe Clexa/Mass Effect/Firefly Space gays story I've been sitting on for almost two years.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Okay, I've been sitting on this for almost two years and as I'm really struggling with writing right now, to the point that it gives me anxiety attacks, I figured I'd post the first chapter of this. Like it says in the summary it's a weird little Clexa au with Mass Effect and Firefly elements. You don't need to have watched Firefly or played Mass Effect for it to make sense though, so hopefully you all enjoy this. So far I'm sitting at just over 19K words for this so there might be another chapter up soon. Drop me a comment, let me know what you think.

Laying on the bed in her quarters, Lexa was looking out at the stars passing over her head, thinking about how she had got there. She’d never thought about being in command on her own starship, when she was growing up on Earth she was more than happy to keep her feet firmly on the ground, now here she was, out amongst the stars.

It had been 3 days since the E.S.C Polaris had left Council Space; they were out to do a recon mission on a planet that was being shortlisted for a human colony. It wasn’t the usual kind of mission that Lexa and her crew were sent out on, as the Polaris carried a military crew, but it was in a part of space that could sometimes be hostile for humans.

The planet was out on the edges of Reaper controlled space, no one knew exactly who or what the Reapers were, Lexa had killed enough of them to know they were human in appearance, but other than that not a lot was known about them. They floated out in space in their ships and any other vessel which entered their space was raided, the crew of those ships would be killed and the vessels themselves butchered and added to the Reaper fleet. Lexa had heard talk that when the Reapers boarded ships they would rape their victims before killing them, she’d heard talk that they also ate their victims and sometimes wore parts of their skin. She had no intention of finding out how true the rumors were, so whenever she saw one she’d rather kill it before trying to talk to it.

Just as Lexa was about to try and get a few hours’ sleep her comms buzzed to life.

“Commander,” Anya said over the comm, “we’re picking up a ship on sensors.”

“And that’s note-worthy why, Anya?” Lexa asked, “we’re in space, there are a lot of ships out here.”

“It has an E.S.C beacon,” Anya replied, “scans are not picking up anything other than the fact it’s a transport ship from a larger research vessel.”

“ALIE,” Lexa said as she sat up on her bed, “what can you tell me?”

“E.S.C don’t have any vessels that are marked as being in this section of space at the moment, Commander,” ALIE said, “from my initial scans it appears that it’s a transport ship from the E.S.C Arkadia.”

“Arkadia?” Lexa asked as she finally got up and made her way to the door of her cabin, “isn’t that some big-shot medical research ship?”

“I do not understand the term big-shot, Commander, could you please elaborate.” ALIE said.

“Reyes, you told me this AI would understand English.” Lexa said as she reached the elevator.

“And she does, when you actually speak English,” Raven replied, “ALIE, by big-shot the Commander means important.”

“Then why did she not simply say important?” ALIE asked, “I will add the term big-shot to my recognized words for future reference.”

“Awesome,” Lexa said, shaking her head as she exited the elevator at the Control and Information Centre level, making her way towards the bridge, “so, I’m right in understanding that Arkadia is an important medical research ship?”

“That is correct, Commander,” ALIE replied, “it is currently under the command of Admiral Thelonious Jaha and is docked at the Citadel in Council Space.”

“Any reports of it missing a transport vessel?” Lexa asked as she walked onto the bridge, resting her hand on the back of Raven’s chair as she looked out of the main window.

“Nothing on record.” ALIE said.

“They’re not exactly going to go to E.S.C and say ‘oh, by the way, we’ve lost a transport’.” Raven said, glancing up at Lexa.

“Do we have any idea what they were working on?” Lexa asked, a smirk ghosting her lips at Ravens words.

“I have limited access to E.S.C records,” ALIE said, causing Lexa’s brow to furrow a little as she glanced down at Raven, “from what I can find out the majority of their work is classified.”

“Thanks ALIE.” Lexa said, “can you run a scan and see if you can pick up any life-signs on board?”

“Yes, Commander.” ALIE replied.

Lexa looked at Raven.

“Explain to me why ALIE only has limited access to E.S.C records.” She said.

“Well,” Raven said, looking away from Lexa before she mumbled, “I may have not got the full clearance I needed to have her installed on the ship…”

“Sorry, that sounded like you said you didn’t get the full clearance you needed to have her installed on my ship.” Lexa said, folding her arms as she looked at Raven.

“The brass may think she’s a VI…” Raven replied, “something about not trusting an AI to be fully integrated into a warship…”

“And what concerns did they have?” Lexa asked.

“They didn’t understand how it would be beneficial for an AI to have full access to our weapons arrays…” Raven muttered.

“So when you assured me that this was all above board and the brass were fully behind this?” the Commander asked, getting more and more irritated as the seconds ticked by.

“I may not have been entirely honest.” Raven replied, “But you can trust me, and ALIE. She’s cool.”

“Are you going to explain to the Commander that your precious AI is based on code that was used to create that AI on Earth that went rogue?” Anya asked as she walked onto the bridge.

“She’s been completely re-written since then,” Raven said, looking at Lexa whose eyes had widened at the news, “she understands human’s feelings and emotions, she sees us as her crew, she’ll protect us, not kill us.”

“The first sign that she’s turning nasty, and it’s your ass that goes out the airlock.” Lexa said, shaking her head a little as she sighed.

“Understood.” Raven replied.

“Commander,” ALIE said, “my scans are complete. I am detecting 10 life-signs onboard the ship.”

“Human?” Lexa asked.

“Yes,” ALIE replied, “they are in two separate areas of the ship. I am also detecting recent weapons fire.”

“All life-support systems running?” The Commander asked in reply.

“For now.” ALIE said, “though they are running at below normal capacity.”

“Okay,” Lexa said, turning to look back at Anya, “suit up and meet me at the shuttle.”

“You’re going over there?” Raven asked, looking back at Lexa and Anya.

“It’s an E.S.C vessel, Raven,” Lexa replied, “we have no idea what they’re doing out here, we have no idea if they need help. They’re broadcasting the E.S.C beacon so they obviously need some kind of help. So yes, we’re going over there.”

“Want me to get Lincoln to suit up as well?” Anya asked as she and Lexa made their way back towards the elevator.

“Please,” Lexa said with a nod, “I’ll meet you down there.”

  


x-x-x-x-x-x

  


When Lexa, Anya and Lincoln boarded the transport vessel the brunette could see signs of fighting. Lexa saw two bodies on the floor, she motioned for Lincoln to check them. He walked over and turned over the first body, it was pretty obvious that whoever it had been wasn’t in E.S.C uniform, as Lexa saw his face she could see why.

“Reaper…” Lexa said, “stay alert.”

Lexa hit the comm button on her hard-suit.

“ALIE, we’ve got signs of Reaper activity over here,” she said as Anya and Lincoln looked around the shuttle bay, “out of the 10 signs you picked up, where is the smaller group?”

“I am picking up 3 life-signs on the bridge.” ALIE replied.

“Thanks.” Lexa said before she looked at Anya and Lincoln, “then I guess we’re going to the bridge.”

The three of them slowly made their way towards the bridge, all of them with weapons drawn. As they walked through the doors to the bridge, Lexa motioned for Anya to go to the right and Lincoln to the left.

Lexa walked to the door that stood between them and the ships controls, it was sealed.

“ALIE, can you get me the bypass code for this door?” Lexa said as she scanned the door with the omni-tool she had.

“It may take a few moments, Commander.” ALIE replied.

“Take your time,” Lexa said, “we’re in no rush here, it’s not like there are Reapers on the ship or anything.”

“Your sarcasm is noted, Commander.” ALIE replied, which made Lexa laugh a little.

Lexa, Anya and Lincoln all snapped their heads around as a noise sounded from the direction they had entered the bridge.

“Ready?” Lexa asked, looking to Anya then Lincoln, both nodded a little and raised their weapons.

As soon as Lexa caught sight of a figure coming through the door she could see it was a Reaper. She fired her gun, hitting the thing square in the chest, but it kept coming.

“You have got to be shitting me.” She muttered, firing more shots at it.

While Lexa was concentrating on the first Reaper, more came in through the door, she could count 5. Anya looked at her and took a small cluster grenade from the belt on her hard suit, she looked questioningly at Lexa who nodded a little, before the two girls and Lincoln took cover and Anya threw the grenade at the Reapers.

“Well that did it.” Anya said as she stood up and looked at where the Reapers had been.

“ALIE,” Lexa said, “we could do with that code now.”

“I’ve uploaded it to your omni-tool Commander.” ALIE replied.

Lexa walked back over to the door and raised her arm, her omni-tool lighting up, she scanned the door again, seeing the red sealed sign turn green, she hit the center of the door. As the door hissed open, she raised her gun, looking around the darkness of the bridge control area.

“One more step and I will shoot you.” A voice said.

Lexa, Anya and Lincoln all turned their attention in the direction the voice had come from, and saw a girl standing there in an E.S.C uniform.

“My name is Commander Lexa Woods of the E.S.C Polaris.” Lexa said as she stepped into the room, her weapon still pointed at the girl.

“If it isn’t the littlest Blake.” Anya said with a small laugh as she followed Lexa into the room.

“Blake?” Lexa asked, looking between the girl and Anya.

“Gunnery Chief Octavia Blake.” The girl said.

“You’re Bellamy’s little sister?” Lexa asked, a small smile playing on her lips, Octavia nodded, “then would you mind putting your weapon down.”

“I’m afraid I can’t do that, Commander.” Octavia replied.

“What are you doing out here?” Anya asked as she walked up next to Lexa, “E.S.C has no vessels marked as being in this area of space.”

“That’s classified.” Octavia said, her jaw clenching a little.

“It needs to be something important for you to keep a weapon pointed at a superior officer.” Lexa said as she took a step closer to Octavia, “I outrank you, tell me what you’re doing out here.”

Octavia didn’t say a word, she just kept her eyes fixed on Lexa.

“Fine.” Lexa said, arching her eyebrow a little, “then we’ll leave you to your ‘classified’ work.”

Lexa turned and looked at Anya and Lincoln.

“Let’s go.” She said.

“Commander,” ALIE said over Lexa’s comms, “you cannot just leave them floating out there. The drive core on the ship is disabled, life-support is failing and they have no ship weapons.”

“I’m aware of that ALIE.” Lexa replied, knowing that Octavia and the others in the room could hear what ALIE was saying.

“It is against E.S.C regulations to leave a Coalition ship stranded, Commander.” ALIE said.

“ALIE, what do E.S.C regulations say about pointing a weapon at a superior officer?” Lexa asked.

“There is nothing specific in the regulations regarding pointing a weapon at a superior officer,” ALIE replied, “though it is up to the commanding officer on the specific ship to decide on the form of punishment. If a weapon is discharged at a superior officer…”

“Thank you, ALIE.” Lexa said, shaking her head a little.

“Was that a rhetorical question, Commander?” ALIE asked.

“Yes,” Lexa said, “it was. ALIE, can you ask Raven to send a message to Coalition command and inform them that we found…”

“Wait…” Another voice said from behind where Octavia was standing.

Lexa turned around and looked at the person who was now standing next to Octavia.

“You can’t inform Coalition command.” The blonde girl said.

“And why not?” Lexa asked.

“Because they don’t know we’re out here…” the blonde replied.

“Clarke…” Octavia said, looking at the blonde.

“We need their help,” Clarke said, looking at Octavia before she looked back at Lexa, “like… whoever this ALIE is, said, our drive core is disabled, life-support is failing…”

“Start talking.” Lexa said, her eyes fixed on Clarke.

“We’re originally from the Arkadia, which I’m sure your ships scans picked up,” Clarke said with a sigh, “I was sent out here with a small team to retrieve… something which is important.”

“A transport vessel on a retrieval mission near Reaper controlled space?” Lexa asked, shaking her head a little, “not buying it.”

“What do you know about biotics, Commander?” Clarke asked in reply.

“Not as much as I should,” Lexa replied honestly, “I have one on my team. Biotics in humans is a recent development, though it’s common amongst other species… it’s something about manipulating dark energy to create mass effect fields, something to do with element zero in the brain or something, but I’m a soldier, not a scientist.”

“That’s a very basic way of looking at it,” Clarke said with a nod, “we got hold of some classified information about a company called The Mount Weather Corporation, have you heard of them?”

“Pro-human group,” Lexa said, “working to promote human interests in the galaxy, or at least that’s what’s on the extranet. As far as Coalition command is concerned they’re a human terrorist organization.”

“Coalition command are certainly closer to the truth,” Clarke replied with a small nod, “the information we received claimed that they were running element zero experiments on human subjects. Children, more specifically. They had a research vessel not far from here, which was attacked by mercenaries. We were told that… they may have been something of interest on the vessel, so I was sent with my team to find out.”

“Why would an E.S.C medical research ship have interest in element zero experiments on children?” Anya asked from where she was leaning against the wall of the room.

“We were more interested in the data that they had,” Clarke said, “we, of course, do not condone experiments on live subjects, in any capacity. But the more we know about element zero and its effects on humans, the more we can do to help those humans who have been exposed to it. With any data they had we may have been able to design new bio-amps and other implants to help human biotics.”

“Where’s this data now?” Lexa asked.

“The data was gone.” Clarke replied, “but we did find something else.”

Clarke crouched down near a small storage area and removed the metal front panel. Lexa took a step back as a young child climbed out of the storage space.

“Call me a something again,” the kid said as she looked at Clarke, “and I’ll bite your nose off.”

“This is Madi.” Clarke said as she looked at Lexa, “when we boarded the vessel they had her in a stasis pod, the power was failing, if we’d have left her there she would have died.”

“Explain to me what you were planning to do with her.” Lexa said, glancing from the child to Clarke.

“We were taking her back to the Arkadia,” Clarke replied, “we have facilities…”

“Commander.” ALIE said over Lexa’s comms, “we are picking up a ship on long range sensors.”

“Reapers?” Lexa asked.

“No, Commander,” ALIE replied, “it is a human vessel.”

“It’s LiDAR paints it as MWC.” Raven said over the comms.

“MWC?” Octavia asked.

“Mount Weather Corp.” Lexa replied, “Raven, have the Polaris ready to go, we’re on our way back to you now.”

“Aye, aye boss.” Raven said.

“Boss?” Octavia asked, “that’s…”

“That’s Raven, she’s not big on protocol,” Lexa replied, “you have two choices, you can come with us, or you can stay here. I’m guessing that they’re here to find the kid.”

“The kid has a name.” Madi said as she looked at Lexa.

“Commander, we have a mission to complete.” Anya said, “if they come with us… well, we don’t exactly have facilities to take care of a child.”

“I can take care of myself.” Madi said, looking at Anya.

“We’ve got no choice right now,” Lexa said, glancing over at Anya, “as soon as we get out of here Clarke can get word to the Arkadia, let them know what happened. Once we’re done with the recon mission, we’ll head back to Council Space. I’m sure we can cope for a few days.”

  


x-x-x-x-x-x

  


Once the shuttle was back onboard the Polaris, Lexa told Raven to plot a course for the planet.

“I’ve got a message incoming from the MWC vessel, Commander.” ALIE said over the ships comms, “it is marked as urgent.”

“Patch it through to the screen down in the shuttle bay, ALIE.” Lexa said as she walked over to the small screen just in time to see the image of a man she had never seen before come up, “I’m Commander Lexa Woods of the E.S.C Polaris, what can I do for you?”

“I like to think of this more as what I can do for you, Commander.” The man replied.

“And you are?” Lexa asked in reply.

“Carl Emerson,” the man replied, “Mount Weather Corporation.”

“There is nothing that you can do for me.” Lexa said, her jaw clenched slightly.

“I’m sure you are unaware of what the precious cargo you now carry is capable of,” Emerson said, “or the damage that it is capable of doing inside a frigate.”

“I’m not sure what precious cargo you’re talking about Mr. Emerson.” Lexa replied, her eyes flicking over to where Clarke was standing with Madi and Octavia.

“The subject is fitted with a tracking device, Commander,” he said, a smug smile crossing his lips, “we are well aware that you have her on your ship.”

“She is a child, not a subject.” Lexa replied.

“She’s a weapon, Commander,” Emerson countered, “a weapon that Mount Weather Corp is willing to pay handsomely to have returned.”

“I wasn’t aware that Mount Weather Corp was in the business of buying and selling people, Mr. Emerson.” Lexa said, “that is a direct violation of the Councils anti-slavery act.”

“The MWC vessel is charging weapons, Commander.” ALIE said.

“I tried to be civil about this, Commander Woods,” Emerson said, “return Mount Weather Corp’s property, or I will have no choice but to blow your ship out of the sky.”

“You are welcome to try, Mr. Emerson.” Lexa replied with a small smirk, “though I assume that your weapons will not be powerful enough to even dent the shields on my ship.”

“Thanix missiles, Commander Woods.” He said.

“Bullshit.” Raven said over the comms, causing Lexa to smirk a little more.

“ALIE,” Lexa said, looking up a little, “get us out of here.”

“Certainly, Commander.” ALIE replied.

“Goodbye Mr. Emerson.” Lexa said with a small smile.

The screen went blank as ALIE used FTL speeds to get the Polaris away from the MWC vessel. Lexa let out a long deep breath before she turned and looked at Clarke, Madi and Octavia.

“I can explain…” Clarke started to say, as Lexa walked over to Madi.

“Hold still.” Lexa said as she crouched down next to the kid and scanned her with her omni-tool.

“What are you doing?” Octavia asked.

“Looking for the tracking device,” Lexa replied, “they won’t be able to follow us at FTL speeds, but if they really do have a tracker in her, they’ll find her eventually.”

A small pulsing red light showed up on the scan that Lexa was taking of Madi’s body.

“Got it.” Lexa said, looking back at Lincoln, “take her up to the med-bay, I want that thing out of her.”

Madi looked up at Clarke, who nodded a little before she went with Lincoln.

“So what happens now?” the blonde asked as she looked at Lexa.

“Now I figure out if having you and the kid on board my ship is worth all the trouble that it’s bound to cause.” Lexa replied.

  



	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter continues on directly from the first chapter. Sorry for the delay, life hasn't been kind to me lately. For everyone asking, like I said in the notes at the start of the first chapter, you don't need to know anything about Firefly or Mass Effect to read this, it should all make sense even if you don't, there's just certain things in it that will mean something different to fans of either franchise. Be sure to drop me a comment if you have anything to say, concerns or requests.

“So let me get this straight,” Lexa said as she and Clarke sat in the mess, “she was born a biotic, sold to slavers, bought on behalf of MWC who then ran tests on her?”

“From what I can gather, yes,” Clarke replied with a small nod, “I haven’t really had much of a chance to talk to her, but from what she said before we got attacked by those Reapers…”

“Not many people can survive being attacked by Reapers.” Lexa said.

“Octavia is good with a gun, and Madi is certainly gifted.” Clarke said with a small smile, “I pretty much just hid.”

“You don’t know how to use a weapon?” Lexa asked in reply.

“I’m a doctor, Commander,” Clarke said with a sigh, “I patch people up after they get shot.”

“From what I understand, all E.S.C doctors have basic military training,” Lexa replied, “at least those who serve on ships.”

“There’s not really much call for doctors on a medical research ship to have weapons training,” the blonde said, “we have a security team for that.”

“A medical research ship that is part of the overall E.S.C fleet,” Lexa countered, “if we were to go to war, all doctors from that vessel would be placed on front line ships or at planet side military bases, where you would be expected to be able to at least point a gun and shoot at a moving target.”

“I can fire a gun,” Clarke said, “would I survive long in a fire-fight? Probably not, but I know how to pull a trigger.”

“We might have to work on that,” the brunette said, a small smile ghosting her lips, “this is a military vessel after all.”

“Are you planning on keeping me aboard longer than a few days, Commander?” Clarke asked, her eyebrow arched slightly.

“I like to plan for every eventuality.” Lexa replied, “expect the unexpected. With MWC looking for the kid, this might be the safest place.”

“Emerson wasn’t exaggerating when he mentioned how much damage Madi could do in a frigate.” Clarke said, looking down at the cup that she held in her hands, “I’m not sure how safe your ship would be with her onboard.”

“Let me worry about that,” the brunette said with a small sigh, “right now she’s a small, angry, scared kid. I can work with that.”

“Oh yeah?” Clarke asked, looking back at Lexa, “how?”

“I used to be a small, angry, scared kid.” Lexa replied with a small smile.

“Where were you born?” the blonde asked, “I’m guessing it wasn’t in space.”

“Earth born,” Lexa said with a nod, “no interest in anything space related till I turned 18 and joined the Coalition.”

“Why did you sign up then?” Clarke asked.

“It was either that, or jail,” Lexa replied with a small laugh and a shake of her head, “seemed like the better of two options.”

“You seem a little young to be in command of your own starship, Commander Woods.” Clarke said, a small smile playing on her lips, “you’re what, 26?”

“27,” Lexa replied, “but with an active military ship, like the Polaris, it’s not necessarily age that makes a good leader, it’s experience.”

“I’m guessing you have that.” Clarke said.

“More than I’d like.” Lexa said with a nod, “I’m guessing you’re a spacer.”

“Born and raised.” Clarke said with a nod of her own.

“Parents both in the E.S.C?” the brunette asked.

“Mom is a medical researcher slash doctor,” Clarke said, “my dad is… _was_ an engineer.”

“I’m sorry…” Lexa replied, “is your mom on the Arkadia?”

“Yep.” Clarke said with a nod.

“Commander,” ALIE said over the ships comms, “I am sorry to interrupt but I have an incoming message from Coalition command for you.”

“I’ll take it in my cabin, thank you ALIE.” Lexa said, before she looked at Clarke, “I’m going to have to take this, sorry.”

Lexa stood up from the table and walked towards the elevator.

“Commander,” Clarke said, stopping Lexa in her tracks, causing the brunette to turn around and look at her, “I have a quick question before you go…”

“Shoot.” Lexa said with a small smile.

“Is ALIE a VI or an AI?” Clarke asked.

“An AI on an E.S.C warship?” Lexa asked in reply, thinking on her feet, unsure of whether the blonde could be trusted yet, “that’s a little… irregular.”

Clarke didn’t reply she just nodded a little, before Lexa turned and walked to the elevator, going up to her cabin to take the incoming message from Coalition command.

“Commander Woods,” Admiral Kane said as Lexa activated the screen, “I’ve just received your report about the small detour you took.”

“Is there a problem, sir?” Lexa asked.

“No,” Kane replied, shaking his head a little, “Thelonious Jaha, of the Arkadia, contacted me about setting up a rendezvous point so Griffin and Blake can return to the Arkadia.”

“I don’t think that would be the safest option for anyone concerned, sir,” Lexa said, “we had a small run-in with a MWC vessel after Clarke and Octavia came aboard. In my opinion it would be safer if the Arkadia meet us back in Council space once we have completed the recon mission.”

“I will defer to your judgement on this matter, Commander.” Kane replied.

“Thank you, sir.” Lexa said with a small nod, “we should return to Council space in 5 days. I will send communication to the Arkadia when we get there.”

“One more thing before you go, Commander,” Kane said, “I would appreciate it if you would remind Flight Lieutenant Reyes that a fully-self-aware AI is not a good experiment to run on an active warship.”

“I’m not sure I understand, sir…” Lexa replied, fighting to keep the smirk off her face.

“The Polaris is your ship, Lexa,” Kane said, “I am completely behind any and all updates and upgrades you apply to her, yet please ensure that you are aware of a kill-switch in case this does not work out the way intended.”

“Yes sir.” Lexa said with a small nod.

  


x-x-x-x-x-x

 

After finishing her little chat with Admiral Kane, Lexa knew that she should go back to the mess and talk to Clarke, let her know that Thelonious Jaha had sent word to Coalition command about the rendezvous point, and also let the blonde know that he hadn’t mentioned Madi. The Commander didn’t know if Clarke had told Jaha about Madi, or if she was keeping that little bit of information to herself.

When she exited the elevator, Lexa found that the mess was empty.

“ALIE,” she said, “where’s Clarke?”

“Doctor Griffin is in the shuttle bay with Madi.” ALIE replied.

Lexa made her way down to the shuttle bay, as she got out of the elevator she could hear Clarke talking to Madi.

“What makes you think you can’t trust her?” Clarke asked.

“She’s E.S.C,” Madi replied, “if they find out what I am they will poke and prod me like Mount Weather did… change of uniform, not change of mindset.”

“I’m E.S.C too…” Clarke said, “does that mean you don’t trust me?”

“You’re different, you helped me.” Madi said.

“I think Lexa would help you as well, if you give her a chance.” The blonde replied, “I’ve been around a lot of soldiers, but she’s different.”

“Do you trust her?” Madi asked.

“I do.” Clarke said, “so how about you give her the benefit of the doubt.”

Lexa walked over to where Clarke and Madi were sitting by the shuttle, Madi looked at Lexa before she looked back down at the floor.

“Everything okay?” Lexa asked looking between the Clarke and the young girl.

“Yeah.” Clarke replied with a small smile and a nod.

“Admiral Kane wanted to let me know that Admiral Jaha had requested a rendezvous point so you and Octavia can get back to the Arkadia,” Lexa said, “I told him that I’ll send a communication to the Arkadia when we’re back in Council space.”

“When will that be?” Clarke asked.

“About 5 days,” Lexa replied, “I wanted to ask why you hadn’t told Jaha that you had Madi with you.”

“I was hoping to have a little more time to explain everything to him,” the blonde said, glancing at Madi before she looked back up at where Lexa was standing, “we went there to retrieve data, not pick up child. I’m not sure how he’s going to react, I did send word to my mother though.”

“Isn’t your mother just going to tell the Admiral anyway?” Lexa asked, folding her arms across her chest as she looked at the blonde, her brow furrowed a little.

“Are you aware of everything that happens on your ship, Commander?” Clarke asked in reply, “Are you aware of every communication that is sent and received?”

“No,” Lexa said, shaking her head a little, “I try not to pry into the communications that my crew send, but if it’s something that may very well impact on the security of my ship and the people onboard, then I hope that my crew can talk to me about it.”

“The AI can do that for you though.” Madi said, looking up at Lexa.

Lexa looked at Madi, her eyes narrowed a little. The young girl shrugged.

“Not every day you’re on a ship that talks to you.” Madi said.

“A VI talks…” Clarke said, looking between Madi and Lexa.

“But a VI doesn’t ask questions, they just answer them and tell you stuff.” Madi replied, looking at Clarke, “A VI doesn’t ask you if the temperature is currently comfortable in the med-bay or if you would like the air con turned up. You ask them that stuff…”

“What else did you talk to ALIE about?” Lexa asked, a small smile playing on her lips.

“She asked me what human kids eat,” Madi said with a shrug, “and then told me that she’d inform you of what you needed to get at the next station we stop at.”

“Is there anywhere nearby we could stop at?” Clarke asked, as she looked at Lexa, “We could do with picking up some supplies, clothes and what not, we left all that on the transport.”

“ALIE, are there any inhabited planets close by which would have a trading post where we could pick up what would be needed?” Lexa asked.

“There is a small human settlement nearby, Commander,” ALIE replied, “they have a small trading outpost. Would you like me to set a course?”

“Please.” Lexa said before she looked back at Clarke and Madi, “make sure you have a list of what you need, I don’t want to be here all day, I hate shopping.”

“That doesn’t surprise me at all.” Clarke replied, a small smile playing on her lips.

“ALIE, inform the crew that we’ll be landing, and tell them that they have a few hours of shore leave.” Lexa said, rolling her eyes at what Clarke had said, “but make sure you tell Reyes that she isn’t getting anything else to install on my ship.”

“Actually, Commander,” Raven said, “I was thinking it would be pretty cool if I could pick up a mech-shell, see if we can get ALIE mobile.”

“Raven…” Lexa said, a small warning tone in her voice.

“Okay, okay,” Raven replied, “I’ll write a full report for you about the advantages and disadvantages before I even consider it.”

Lexa sighed and shook her head a little.

“Don’t suppose the Arkadia could use a slightly crazy, tech-genius, pilot?” she said, looking to Clarke.

“Unfortunately I think we’ve passed our quota for crazy on the Arkadia.” Clarke said with a smirk.

“Shame,” Lexa replied, “might have to just dump her ass out of an airlock then.”

“I heard that.” Raven said over the comms.

“I believe that the Commander intended you to hear that, Raven.” ALIE said, “it yet again proves her point of why having constantly open comm channels on the ship is not a good idea.”

“They’re not constantly open in every area of the ship,” Raven replied, “I mean I don’t want to be listening in when the Commander is…”

“Raven, do I need to remind you how easy it is for me to make a body disappear this close to Reaper controlled space.” Lexa said.

“You wouldn’t.” Raven said.

“Try me.” The Commander replied.

“You’re no fun.” Raven said before the comms finally closed.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A trip to a nearby space port doesn't exactly go as planned, Clarke does some snooping for information about the Commander, and Lexa finds herself curious about Clarke in return.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Figured I'd post this while I was in a good place to do it. Drop me a comment and let me know what you think about where this is headed.

Lexa was sitting in a bar at the human trading outpost with Raven, Anya and Bellamy. Octavia and Lincoln had gone with Clarke and Madi to pick up whatever supplies they needed for the short amount of time they’d be on the Polaris.

“So what did you manage to find out from the littlest Blake?” Anya asked, looking at Bellamy.

“Not that much,” Bellamy replied, “she actually pulled the ‘it’s classified’ line on me a few times.”

“Didn’t Clarke mention that she’d sent a comm to her mom?” Raven asked, glancing over at Lexa.

“Yeah,” Lexa replied with a nod, “though I’m not sure how that’s going to help us find anything out.”

“I can have ALIE monitor whatever passes between them,” Raven said, “I may also be able to use the communication as a back door to the Arkadia data banks. Find out just what it is they’re doing that is so top secret.”

“You want to use an AI, which we shouldn’t have by the way, to hack into another E.S.C ships data banks?” Anya asked looking at the other girl.

“Well when you put it like that…” Raven said, a small smirk ghosting her lips, “yes, that’s exactly what I want to do.”

“Let me see what I can find out through official channels,” Lexa said, finishing the drink that was in front of her, “I’ll also talk to Clarke, see if she’ll tell me who sent them the original information about the MWC vessel they found Madi on…”

“And when that doesn’t work?” Raven asked.

“Then you get my full backing to do whatever it is you want to do.” Lexa said as the barmaid put another drink down in front of her.

“What do we know about Madi?” Bellamy asked, looking around the group, “she was bought on behalf of MWC for what reasons?”

“She was born a biotic,” Lexa replied, ignoring the way the barmaid was still looking at her, “they obviously have an interest in human biotic kids, Clarke told me they ran tests on her, I’m not sure what they were hoping to achieve, we didn’t get that far in the conversation.”

“That Emerson dude said she was a weapon, right?” Raven asked, “maybe they were wanting to see how far they could take the biotic powers in a human, instead of waiting for evolution to do it for us.”

“That would be my guess yes.” Lexa said with a small nod, “that kid is certainly not stupid either, there’s a lot more going on there than simple biotics.”

“Commander,” ALIE said through Lexa’s personal comms, “I’ve been monitoring planet side communications, and we may have a small… issue.”

“Define the word issue, ALIE…” Lexa said with a sigh.

“You may want to get to the market, Commander,” ALIE replied, “there are reports from local law enforcement of a large biotic discharge.”

“That’s all you’ve got for me?” Lexa asked as she downed what was left of her drink before she stood up.

“At this time, yes.” ALIE said.

“Very helpful, thank you.” Lexa said as she looked at Anya and Bellamy, “let’s go.”

“What about me?” Raven asked.

“Get back to the ship, something tells me we’re going to have to make a quick exit.” Lexa replied.

The group left the bar, Lexa, Anya and Bellamy heading towards the market while Raven went back to the ship. It didn’t take Lexa long to find the cause of the biotic discharge as she saw 5 local law enforcement officers all with weapons pointed at Madi who was currently standing in the center of a biotic field.

“Never a dull moment…” Lexa said, pushing her way through the crowd that had gathered.

As they made their way to the front of the crowd, Lexa could see both Clarke and Octavia with weapons drawn pointing at two people who were in Mount Weather Corporation uniforms.

“Can someone explain to me what’s going on here?” Lexa asked.

“This isn’t your concern, ma’am,” one of the law enforcement officers said as he glanced over at Lexa, “please let us handle this.”

“I really hate it when people call me ma’am,” Lexa said with a sigh, “do I look like a ma’am to you?”

The law enforcement officer looked at her again, saw that she was wearing an E.S.C t-shirt and combat pants.

“You look like a soldier to me.” He said.

“Commander, actually,” Lexa replied, “now do you want to tell me what’s going on here?”

“The child is an unregistered biotic,” the man said, “all biotics have to be registered here. These two men claim that the child is property of Mount Weather Corporation…”

Lexa reached around to the small of her back and grabbed her pistol.

“She is no one’s property.” Lexa said as she looked at the man, pistol in her hand, “she is a child.”

“Last time I checked all E.S.C planets had laws against owning humans.” Bellamy said as he glanced at Octavia, a questioning look in his eyes, causing Octavia to nod a little, letting him know that she was okay.

“This port is owned and funded by Mount Weather Corporation,” the law enforcement officer said, “it’s a privately funded trading outpost.”

“Of course it is.” Lexa said with a sigh.

The Commander glanced over at Anya and Bellamy, a small nod indicating to them that they should draw their weapons.

“Ma’am…” the law enforcement officer said seeing that the three were now armed.

“How many more times,” Lexa said, pointing her gun at his head, “it’s Commander, not ma’am.”

She looked at Madi, still standing inside the biotic field.

“Madi,” she said, “come here…”

The young girl shook her head.

“I won’t let anything happen to you, I promise,” Lexa said, “please, trust me.”

After a few more moments Madi dropped her biotic shield and rushed over to where Lexa was standing, the older girl moving the young child around towards her back, where she knew Anya and Bellamy were still standing.

“Now here’s how this is going to go,” Lexa said, her weapon still pointed at the law enforcement officer, “we’re going to leave, and you’re not going to follow us.”

A gunshot rang out, quickly followed by another, Lexa felt a sharp pain in her arm as she turned her attention in the direction the shots had sounded, seeing one of the MWC men laying bleeding on the floor as Clarke stood over him, gun pointed at him.

“I didn’t see the gun…” Clarke said, glancing over at Lexa, “I’m sorry…”

“It’s okay.” Lexa replied, “no harm done, we’re leaving, now.”

Octavia grabbed Clarke’s arm and backed them both up towards where Lexa was standing, guns still pointed at the law enforcement officers and the remaining MWC operative.

“Go…” Lexa said, knowing that Anya and Bellamy would already be taking Madi in the direction of the ship.

“You’re making a mistake.” The Mount Weather operative said to Lexa.

“I don’t make mistakes.” Lexa replied, wasting no time in putting a plasma round through his chest as she saw him reach around his back for what she assumed would be a gun.

  


x-x-x-x-x-x

  


Lexa was sitting on one of the beds in the med-bay while Nyko, the ships doctor, cleaned up the wound on her arm. She gritted her teeth and hissed out a short breath.

“It’s not that bad, you big baby.” Nyko said, a small smirk on his lips, “you get shot on a daily basis, Commander.”

“It’s been a while since someone decided to use polonium rounds though,” Lexa replied, “remind me to shoot you in the leg with one later.”

Clarke let out a small laugh as she watched the scene unfold from where she was standing in the doorway of the med-bay.

“Threatening to shoot the medic, huh?” Clarke asked as she walked closer to the bed.

“She’s threatened worse.” Nyko replied with a small smile as he looked at Clarke, “I need to go and get a dose of medi-gel for the Commander, can I trust that you won’t let her leave before I get back.”

“I’ll do my best.” Clarke said, returning the small smile before the man left the med-bay, “I’m really sorry…”

“For what?” Lexa asked as she looked at the blonde.

“I should’ve seen the gun,” Clarke replied, “if I’d have seen it, you wouldn’t have got shot.”

“I’ve had worse,” Lexa said with a small smile, “a lot worse, actually. This is nothing and if it had been a normal plasma round there wouldn’t be any need for me to be here.”

“I did a little bit of research about you, Commander Woods,” Clarke said, “you lost your entire unit when a ship you were on was attacked, is that right?”

“We were out on a recon mission in Reaper controlled space,” Lexa replied, her jaw clenched as she focused her eyes on a spot on the floor rather than looking at Clarke, “there’d been no reports of any activity in the area we were sent to, so the brass figured it was safe enough to send us out there. Obviously, they sent us prepared… just not prepared enough. We had an emergency landing on a nearby planet, the Reapers followed us down… It’s not really something that I like to remember…”

“Sorry…” Clarke said quietly, “it’s just after our chat earlier, when you mentioned having more experience than you’d like when it comes to having your own command…”

“You could’ve just asked me,” Lexa said, shaking her head a little, “you didn’t have to go digging around.”

“Being on the Arkadia I’m not used to commanding officers being too open to talks like that,” Clarke said, “unless they’ve got these awesome war stories to tell, about how they took out like 100 enemies all by themselves, then you can’t get them to shut up about it.”

“Next time you come across someone like that, tell them that you met someone who was stuck for 4 days on a planet… alone by the second day,” Lexa said, clenching her jaw again, “at not even 20 years of age, having to fight off attack after attack by things that were once thought to be nothing more than monsters from nightmares told to kids when they didn’t behave… it’s not something that ever needs to be talked about endlessly, people die…”

“I’m sorry…” Clarke said, “I…”

At that moment Nyko arrived back, sensing the atmosphere in the room he looked at Lexa who was clenching her jaw and staring at the floor.

“I’m going to check on Madi.” Clarke said as she turned and walked from the room.

“Everything okay?” Nyko asked once Clarke had left.

“Yeah…” Lexa replied with a nod, “just a few things that I didn’t want to think about again, that’s all…”

Nyko nodded a little, he had a pretty good idea about what Clarke and Lexa had spoken about, going on the Commanders current state. When he had first been assigned to the Polaris he had been given access to Commander Woods personal files, her medical history was mostly classified, but Coalition brass had made sure he knew everything he needed to know before he joined the crew. The entire crew knew about her past, what she’d been through early in her career, but they had no idea about the mental scars that still remained. The Commander put up a tough front, but Nyko knew from what he had read, it was mostly just an act.

“All done.” Nyko said as he finished putting the medi-gel on Lexa’s arm.

“Thanks.” Lexa replied with a small smile and a nod as she got off the bed and walked towards the door.

“If you ever need to talk, Commander…” Nyko said, causing Lexa to stop in her tracks.

“I’ll let you know.” Lexa said, not turning around before she left the med-bay.

  


x-x-x-x-x-x-x

  


With the lights dimmed in her cabin, and the rest of her team probably asleep, Lexa again lay on her bed and watched the stars pass over her head. She’d had a few run-ins with Mount Weather Corporation in the past, heard talk that they had originally been set up as a Coalition secret ops group, but had always hit walls when she had approached the brass about it. She knew some of the things they were capable of, but she’d never considered they’d actually experiment on humans, kids at that.

“ALIE…” Lexa said as she sat up.

“Yes Commander.” ALIE replied.

“Can you find me all the information you can on Clarke Griffin,” Lexa said, “send it to my terminal please.”

“Of course, Commander.” ALIE said.

As Lexa sat at her desk and waited for ALIE to forward her what information she could find, she couldn’t help but think she was doing what she had told Clarke that she didn’t need to do. But she had a gut feeling that there was a lot more to the blonde than she would openly talk about. Normally she wouldn’t do what she was currently doing, when she had passengers on her ship she would never go digging around in their past, but Clarke would be on her ship for at least the next 5 days and Lexa needed to know just who she was. She already knew Octavia’s history, having access to her records and having her older brother on her crew Lexa didn’t need to dig around to find out anything about her.

“Commander,” ALIE said, “I am having trouble getting some of the information, there is a large part of her medical file which is classified.”

“A large part of my medical file is classified as well,” Lexa replied, “just what is it that they’re trying to keep from people…”

“There is a small note on her file, something that probably would not be note-worthy under normal circumstances, but it says that her mother was exposed to element zero while pregnant with Clarke.” ALIE said.

“Don’t 99% of all element zero exposures during pregnancy result in the child being born with biotic abilities?” Lexa asked, leaning back in her chair a little.

“The percentage is closer to 99.78%, but yes.” ALIE replied.

“Clarke didn’t mention anything about being a biotic,” Lexa said, more to herself than ALIE, though she knew the AI would still be listening to what she said, “so the chances of her not having biotic abilities are 0.22%... that’s next to impossible.”

“Correct Commander,” ALIE said, “it is widely accepted that all children exposed to element zero while in the womb would have some kind of biotic ability.”

“Is there any way to stop biotic abilities showing in a child?” Lexa asked, her mind working over the information she had, “I mean is there a way to stop those abilities developing?”

“Biotic abilities develop over time, with use and practice at controlling them,” the AI said, “ignoring them would not make them go away, it would simply lead to an unstable biotic power, with the abilities showing themselves at a time which would likely be inconvenient.”

“Biotic amps are made to help control the biotic power, correct?” Lexa asked, pinching the bridge of her nose a little.

“That is correct.” ALIE replied, “they also help with pain management in human biotic subjects.”

“Is there any way that someone could come up with something, like a biotic amp, which would block the biotics?” Lexa asked.

“Around 30 years ago, when Mount Weather Corporation was first coming to prominence, they theorized that such a thing may be possible,” ALIE said, “an implant which would counter the effects of element zero. At that point the exact impact element zero would have on a human mind was unknown. People were worried, alarmed at what it would do. It is not reported what occurred with this theory, whether they ran the tests or not, though it has been speculated that tests were conducted in private which did more damage than good to the subjects, leaving them severely mentally unstable.”

“30 years ago MWC still had connections to E.S.C, didn’t they?” Lexa said, an idea forming in her mind.

“30 years ago the Earth Space Coalition was still in the early stages of development,” ALIE said, “forming only 5 years before that when humans developed Faster Than Light travel. The earliest human colonies were set up a number of years before that, it taking significantly longer to travel between planets, those initial human colonies were set up on planets closer to Earth. The Earth Alliance, as it was then known, was expanded to incorporate these colonies, and so the Earth Space Coalition was born. No link between E.S.C and MWC has ever been publicly acknowledged, though it is largely believed that MWC initially started as a science and research group within the Earth Alliance, and that it was kept quiet so not to anger other species in the galaxy.”

“How old is Clarke, ALIE?” Lexa asked, not knowing exactly how old the blonde was, but guessing that she was around the same age.

“She is 25, Commander.” ALIE replied.

“So it would be entirely possible, in the 5 years between MWC theorizing an implant could be created to block biotics and Clarke being born, that such an implant was in fact successfully created…” Lexa said, thinking aloud again, “she mentioned that her mother is a doctor and her dad was an engineer, both worked on the Arkadia which is a science and medical research vessel… It wouldn’t take much for them to get their hands on an implant…”

“It is possible, yes.” ALIE said, “though an implant would show up on any medical scans.”

“Would Clarke be aware of it?” Lexa asked.

“Unless she has been informed of it, no.” ALIE replied, “if such an implant was created it would be a permanent addition to a person, it would not need to be replaced or upgraded, so I would assume that she would not be aware of its existence unless she was told about it.”

“Who is marked down as her doctor?” the brunette asked.

“Doctor Abigail Griffin,” ALIE said, “I would assume that is her mother.”

“Isn’t that irregular?” Lexa asked.

“She is the chief medical physician on the Arkadia, she is the doctor of every crew member, and Clarke is a member of that crew.” ALIE said, “Which in itself is somewhat irregular, most serving doctors do not serve on the same crew as their relatives. It creates… conflict.”

“Can you find out who her physician was at her birth?” Lexa said, “I’m pretty sure that her mother couldn’t have delivered her own baby like that…”

“She was not born on the Arkadia.” ALIE replied, “her place of birth is classified.”

“Classified at what level, and by whom?” the brunette asked.

“Admiral level, and Thelonious Jaha classified the records.” ALIE said.

“Send a message to Admiral Kane for me,” Lexa said as she stood up, “inform him that I require access to the classified information, if he asks why, tell him that I need to know who and what I have on my ship.”

“Certainly, Commander,” ALIE said, “will there be anything more?”

“Where’s Clarke right now?” Lexa asked.

“She is currently in the Starboard Observation room.” ALIE replied.

“Is she awake?” the brunette asked, knowing that she herself had fallen asleep in that room many a time.

“Yes, Commander.” ALIE said.

“That’ll be all ALIE, thank you.” Lexa said as she walked to the door of her cabin.

  



	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In this chapter we meet Abby and Lexa finds out more about Clarke.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Glad so many of you seem to be enjoying this one as it's something of a passion project for me. Like I've said before if you have any questions or there's something that you don't understand don't forget to drop me a comment and ask. Or, you know, if you're enjoying it and want to let me know you're enjoying it, then drop me a comment for that too lol.

When Lexa walked into the Starboard Observation room she found Clarke sitting on one of the relaxing chairs reading one of the many books that were available. The blonde looked up from the book as soon as she heard the door open.

“Don’t often find actual books on ships anymore.” Clarke said with a small smile, “most of this stuff is all on data pads now.”

“I like to be able to hold actual books in my hand when I read.” Lexa replied, with a small smile of her own, “is everything okay?”

“You mean, it’s pretty late, why am I not asleep?” Clarke asked in reply.

“Yeah,” Lexa said with a nod, “that’s exactly what I meant.”

“I could ask you the same thing, Commander.” Clarke said with another smile as she closed the book and put it down on the small table, “Your ship is pretty quiet.”

“Which is a problem?” Lexa asked as she sat down on the chair opposite Clarke.

“I’m not used to being on a ship that’s so quiet,” Clarke replied, “on the Arkadia there’s always something going on, I guess I’ve got used to the noise.”

“I can have a bed set up for you near the engine room if you’d like,” Lexa said, “I’m pretty sure it’s a little noisier there than on other areas of the ship.”

“Your mechanic, Monty, said there’s already a bed down in engineering,” Clarke said, “something about Raven liking to sleep down there sometimes.”

“Doesn’t surprise me,” Lexa said with a small laugh, “it also shows that I don’t know everything that happens on my ship. Technically Monty is a technician, not a mechanic, that used to be part of Raven’s job, but… er…”

“I noticed the leg brace.” Clarke said with a small nod, “she said something about a shark attack when she was on shore leave…”

“She has a vivid imagination.” Lexa said, shaking her head a little, “it’s a little simpler than that, but it’s not my story to tell.”

“So how did she go from being the mechanic to being the pilot?” Clarke asked.

“Well, technically, she’s both right now,” Lexa replied, “ALIE was her addition… after her… accident, she was offered a planet side job, but she’d be stuck in a lab. Being on an active warship, most of my crew is required to be fully active and able, with Raven that’s no longer possible. When they were talking about grounding her, I could see how much it would destroy her, so when I was given command of this ship, after Admiral Kane got his promotion, I requested her as my pilot. She’s the best pilot in the E.S.C fleet, and she’s a friend.”

“The whole crew here seems pretty tight.” The blonde said, having noticed the way the crew were around each other.

“We’ve been through a lot together,” Lexa said with a small nod, “most of us were here when Kane was in command of the Polaris, we’ve been on some pretty messed up missions.”

“And now they’re your crew,” Clarke said with a small smile, “and you’re the youngest commander of your own vessel in E.S.C history, also the youngest soldier to make it through special ops training from what Lincoln said.”

“You’ve really been doing your homework, huh?” Lexa asked with a laugh as she shook her head a little.

“I just like to know who I’m dealing with,” Clarke replied, “call it my curious mind.”

“You know all this about me,” Lexa said, leaning forward a little, resting her elbows on her knees as she looked at the blonde, “it puts me at a bit of a disadvantage.”

“What would you like to know, Commander?” the blonde asked.

“Let’s start with the simple stuff,” Lexa replied, “like, where were you born, I know you were born in space, we covered that earlier, but were you born on the Arkadia?”

“No,” Clarke replied shaking her head a little, “my mom was away from the ship when she had me, she was helping out with some medical research on another ship.”

“Another E.S.C vessel?” the brunette asked.

“I would assume so,” Clarke said, “I honestly never thought to ask. Next question…”

“Have you always been on the Arkadia?” Lexa asked, sitting back on the chair a little, her eyes still fixed on the blonde.

“Not always, no,” Clarke replied, “I’ve spent most of my time there, but have spent some time away from the Arkadia, working on other ships, never more than a couple of months at a time though. Since my dad died I’ve been on the Arkadia though, guess my mom liked the idea of having me close.”

“I take it you’re an only child?” was the next question that Lexa asked.

“Yes,” Clarke said with a nod, “my dad talked about wanting more kids but my mom was really busy and never found the time.”

“How did your father die, if you don’t mind me asking…” Lexa said, knowing that it may be a tough subject for the blonde to talk about.

“Accident with an airlock he was working on,” Clarke replied with a small sigh, “usually anyone working near an airlock has full breathing apparatus, just in case something goes wrong, but for some reason my dad didn’t have any. He was working in the area alone; the airlock was apparently not responding when they tried to open it. I don’t know the specifics but while he was working on it, it opened by itself and he was sucked out into space. Don’t need to tell you what happens when something like that happens…”

“How does an airlock just open on its own…” Lexa said, more to herself than to the blonde.

“I have no idea,” Clarke said, shaking her head a little, “I’ve never heard about anything like that happening on the Arkadia before.”

“It’s my understanding that all airlocks are manually secured, even if the ships onboard systems say that the airlock is closed,” Lexa replied, “it’s like a one in a billion chance that an airlock would open by itself.”

“Like I said, I don’t know the specifics,” Clarke said with a shrug, “don’t want to know either, it’s easier not to think about it.”

Lexa nodded a little, making a mental note in her head to dig a little more into it, more for her own curiosity rather than expecting to find something she shouldn’t.

“Anyone special waiting for you back on the Arkadia?” Lexa asked, aware that she was probably crossing another line, but changing the subject entirely seemed to be the best thing to do at that moment.

“That’s a bit of a personal question, Commander.” Clarke said, a small smile ghosting her lips.

“Well, you didn’t say what kind of questions I could ask, you asked me what I wanted to know…” Lexa said, a smirk tugging at her lips.

“Any particular reason you want to know that, Commander?” the blonde asked, her eyebrow arched slightly.

“Let’s just call it my curious mind.” Lexa said, causing Clarke to laugh a little.

“Well, if it settles your curious mind, no, there isn’t.” Clarke said.

“Consider my curious mind settled.” Lexa replied.

“What about you, Commander?” Clarke asked, “anyone special waiting for you at home?”

“I thought I was the one asking the questions.” Lexa said with a small laugh, “but, no, no one special.”

“Sorry to interrupt, Commander,” ALIE said, “but I have an incoming message for Doctor Griffin from the Arkadia.”

“Thanks, ALIE.” Clarke said, as Lexa stood up and walked towards the door, wanting to give Clarke a little privacy, “Commander, thanks for the chat. It was very informative.”

“Any time.” Lexa replied with a small smile as she reached the door.

As the door closed behind her Lexa hit her personal comm button.

“ALIE, can you monitor that call?” Lexa asked.

“It is already being monitored Commander, Raven already instructed me to monitor any incoming or outgoing comms to or from the Arkadia.” ALIE replied.

“Of course she did.” Lexa said, shaking her head a little as she walked towards the elevator to go back up to her cabin.

  


x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x

  


When Lexa awoke the following morning, the small light on her personal terminal was flashing, letting her know that she had messages waiting. She had a message from Admiral Kane, telling her that he couldn’t give her full access to the classified data that she wanted, but he could give her access to parts of it. The information that she now had access to told her that Clarke had been born on a ship called Animus. It didn’t take her much digging to find out that Animus was a Mount Weather Corp medical research ship.

“What was an E.S.C doctor doing aboard an MWC medical research ship…” Lexa said, leaning back in her chair a little, “ALIE, can you get me information about an airlock malfunction that took place on the Arkadia at some point in the last 5 years?”

“I can certainly look into it for you Commander.” ALIE replied.

“Great, thanks,” Lexa said, “if you could keep this information from Reyes, I’d greatly appreciate it.”

“Anything that you request of me, Commander, is treated with the upmost secrecy.” ALIE said.

“Good to know.” Lexa said with a small smile, before she continued to read the information on the terminal in front of her.

“Commander, incoming message for you.” Raven said over the comms.

“From who?” Lexa asked, knowing that she wasn’t expecting any incoming messages.

“I have no idea,” Raven replied, “it’s marked as urgent, it’s also marked as private and its point of origin is the Arkadia.”

“Why would anyone on the Arkadia be messaging me?” Lexa asked.

“I know I’m a genius Commander, but I’m not a mind reader.” Raven said with a small laugh.

“Shame, you’d be a lot more useful if you were.” Lexa replied, “patch it through to my terminal please.”

“Sure thing boss lady.” Raven said.

As the screen in front of her switched from the information page to a visual image, Lexa’s brow furrowed a little, she didn’t recognize the woman on the screen.

“Commander Woods, I presume.” The woman said.

“That’s a safe assumption,” Lexa replied, “and you are?”

“Doctor Abigail Griffin, chief physician on the Arkadia,” Abby replied, “it’s been brought to my attention that you’ve been trying to access classified medical information about my daughter.”

“I like to know all the basic medical information about people aboard my ship, Doctor Griffin,” Lexa said, “it’s a lot simpler if I’m aware of any allergies or anything before an event occurs where the use of that information would be prudent.”

“All of that information would be given freely by Clarke, if you had asked her.” Abby said, “access to her medical records is not needed.”

“I’m curious, Doctor Griffin, why are 90% of your daughter’s medical records classified anyway?” Lexa asked, a small smirk on her lips, “even her place of birth isn’t readily available, when it should be on her basic personnel files.”

“Her place of birth isn’t any of your concern, Commander Woods,” Abby said, “I find myself unable to access your medical records, when as chief physician on an E.S.C vessel that information should be available to me.”

“You don’t have the level of clearance needed to access that information,” Lexa replied calmly as she leant forward a little, “nor does your Admiral before you try that. My medical history that you cannot access is in direct response to an E.S.C classified mission that took place 7 years ago. Any information in that file becoming public would be a risk to the entire E.S.C. which is why you cannot access it.”

“What exactly are you trying to hide, Commander Woods?” Abby asked.

“I could ask you the same thing, Doctor Griffin,” Lexa said, “I could ask you why your daughter is not aware that she was born aboard an MWC vessel, the Animus, I believe, which, if my information is correct, was a medical research ship.”

“How do you know that?” Abby asked, her face showing the shock she now felt at Lexa knowing that information.

“Friends in high places,” Lexa replied with a small smile, “or at least higher than your friends. The information I have in front of me also states that Clarke underwent an emergency medical procedure in the moments immediately following her birth, now from what I can see it wasn’t needed to save her life, but I’m no doctor. Maybe I should show this information to Clarke, I mean she has medical training after all.”

“What is it that you want, Commander Woods?” Abby asked.

“You were the one who contacted me, Doctor Griffin,” Lexa said, “I did not contact you. Though I am curious about what else I’m likely to find in this data. Am I likely to find proof that you had implant placed in your daughter’s head to counter act the element zero that you were exposed to when you were pregnant with her? Am I close?”

“Don’t be ridiculous,” Abby said, “no such implant exists.”

“Not publicly,” Lexa said with a sigh, “because obviously a lot of people would be interested in that if it did. Though from what I understand most of the subjects that were involved in those experiments, and they were experiments Doctor Griffin, on live people – which is against E.S.C regulations, might I add – didn’t respond at all well and ended up extremely mentally unstable.”

“You have no idea what you’re getting yourself involved in, Commander Woods.” Abby said, “no idea at all.”

“Yeah, well, I already know I have one crazy-ass biotic on my ship,” Lexa replied, “it’d be nice to know if I had two.”

“Clarke does not have conscious access to her biotic abilities, nor is she aware of them.” Abby stated.

“Which means what, exactly?” Lexa asked.

“The implant blocks all conscious access to her biotics.” Abby replied honestly.

“I’m struggling to understand the conscious aspect of this Doctor Griffin,” Lexa said, “that implies that subconsciously she has access to them… which in turn implies that there’s a trigger… why would you do that to your own daughter?”

“The amount of element zero I was exposed to, Commander Woods, would put Clarke’s basic biotic abilities at a level 6 when she born.” Abby said.

“Did you decide to take a swim in a pool of the stuff?” Lexa asked, “and a level 6, that’s impossible, a human mind cannot take that level of biotics, anything above a level 4 leaves the biotic with severe pain.”

“It’s not just the pain, Commander Woods,” Abby replied with a sigh, “it limits their mental capacity, which in turn leads to a high level of suicide in biotic patients above a level 4. The child you have aboard your ship is a level 5. Clarke’s current biotic abilities would place her a high end of 6, some species would even consider her to be a level 7. If I had not had the implant placed in her head, she would have died, Commander.”

“So instead of using the implant to completely block the abilities, you choose to only block her conscious access to them?” Lexa asked, “What purpose is there for her having subconscious access?”

“Mount Weather Corporation, the people who invented them implant, would only put it in Clarke with one condition…” Abby said, “her abilities would be available if and when it was deemed necessary for them.”

“You allowed them to turn your daughter into a weapon?” Lexa asked, disbelievingly.

“What would you have done in my position, Commander Woods, it was either that or allow my daughter to die.” Abby stated.

“You’re a doctor, you don’t get to be chief physician on an E.S.C ship out of pure luck,” Lexa replied, “surely you could’ve found a way to modify the implant so it would block the biotics rather than be a trigger for them… what would happen if the implant was removed?”

“Honestly, I don’t know,” Abby said, shaking her head a little, “for a short period of time Clarke would be fine, long term… I couldn’t be sure.”

“You shouldn’t have kept this from her…” Lexa said with a sigh.

“That’s what her father said.” Abby replied, “are you going to tell her?”

“I don’t know.” Lexa said, “I’m going to need some time to think about this… all of this.”

Abby nodded a little, before Lexa simply closed the link and leant back in her chair.

“ALIE, did you get all that?” she asked.

“Yes Commander, I did.” ALIE replied, “what would you like me to do with this information?”

“Store it for now,” Lexa said, “I need some time to think this through, do a little research of my own.”

  


x-x-x-x-x-x

  


After she had gone down to the mess area, and Anya had told her that Ryder was working with Madi in the shuttle bay, Lexa took the elevator down to the lowest level of the ship. She had meant to talk to Ryder about Madi, as he was the only biotic on the ship, Lexa figured he could probably help her when it came to controlling her abilities. The shuttle bay was the perfect place for him to do that, as it was the only open space within the ship that was large enough, and confined enough, for any kind of training, biotic or otherwise.

As soon as the elevator doors opened, Lexa had to duck as a large box flew towards her head.

“Try again.” Ryder said calmly to Madi as Lexa picked the box up from the elevator floor, after examining the dent which was now in the far wall.

“I can’t do it,” Madi said, glancing apologetically at Lexa as the Commander placed the box down on the floor between the two biotics, “throwing things I can do…”

“Obviously.” Lexa said with a small smirk as she looked at the young girl.

“You need to be able to control your movements,” Ryder said to Madi, “moving things at speed is one thing, but you need to be able to control it or someone will get hurt.”

“I don’t think Mount Weather wanted me to be able to control it…” Madi said quietly, looking down at her hands.

“Hey,” Lexa said as she crouched down in front of the girl, so their eyes were level, “this isn’t about what Mount Weather wanted, this is about what is best for you. We don’t care about them or what they want, okay?”

Madi nodded a little before she stood a little straighter.

“You’ve got a lot of power in there, kid,” Lexa said with a small smile as she stood up again, “it doesn’t control you, you control it.”

Madi nodded again. Lexa glanced over at Ryder who also nodded a little, at that moment she noticed that Clarke and Octavia were watching what was going on from where they were sitting in the doorway of the shuttle.

“Why are you sitting in there?” Lexa asked, walking over to them.

“Before she nearly took you out with the box, she nearly hit Octavia with a gun part that she lifted accidentally from the armory maintenance area.” Clarke said with a small smile, “we figured we’d be safer in here.”

“We had ALIE put up the shielding around the shuttle, no flying objects are getting in here.” Octavia said with a slight nod.

“Care to join us Commander Woods?” Clarke asked.

Lexa looked back over at Madi, before she shook her head a little.

“I think it’ll be safe enough out here.” She said as she looked back to Clarke and Octavia.

“You might want to rethink that.” Octavia said as the box yet again flew off towards the elevator.

“It’d be a shame to mess up that pretty face.” Clarke said with a smirk.

Lexa shook her head a little as she turned away from the two girls, focusing her attention instead on Madi and Ryder as she fought to stop the small smile that was playing on her lips.

“Smooth, Griffin,” Octavia said quietly, with a short laugh, “real smooth.”

“It actually was pretty smooth,” Raven said over the comms, “I’d give it at least a 6.5.”

“Raven, don’t you have a ship to fly?” Lexa asked.

“If we’re going to get into technicalities, this ship can pretty much fly itself,” Raven replied, “I mean you put in a course…”

“Raven…” Lexa said, a slight warning tone to her voice.

“Right, flying the ship,” Raven said, “that’s what I’m doing.”

“Good, because the more times you remind me that my ship can pretty much fly itself, the more I wonder what use I have for a smart-ass pilot.” Lexa said, causing Clarke and Octavia to laugh.

“You require a pilot in case we happen to come across an anomaly that my scans somehow miss, Commander.” ALIE said.

“A smart-ass pilot and her smart-ass AI…” Lexa muttered, “I might have to put in for a transfer once this is over.”

“Oh come on now, Commander,” Raven said, the smile on her face clear in her voice, “your life would be boring without us, and you know it.”

“Fly the damn ship, Reyes.” Lexa said, shaking her head a little.

“Aye, aye, ma’am.” Raven replied.

Lexa ignored Raven and instead concentrated on Madi who was making the large box, which had previously been flying around the shuttle bay, hover around 6 feet off the floor.

“Now lower it back to the ground…” Ryder said, stopping as the box crashed back down to the floor, “carefully.”

“Whoops.” Madi said with an innocent look and small shrug, which caused Lexa to laugh a little.

“You okay, Clarke?” Lexa heard Octavia said, causing her to turn around and look at the blonde who was shaking her head a little with her eyes tightly closed.

“Yeah,” Clarke replied, “think I’m getting a headache, that’s all.”

“You get headaches a lot?” Lexa asked as she looked at the blonde.

“Pretty regularly yeah,” Clarke said with a small nod, “nothing to worry about though.”

The blonde noticed the uncertain look in Lexa’s eyes.

“Trust me,” the blonde said, “I’m a doctor.”

“When can we try something important?” Madi asked, snapping Lexa’s attention away from Clarke, “like, oh I don’t know, something useful, like stopping a bullet or something.”

“I think that is probably something better tried away from the ship.” Ryder replied, “You can’t directionally deflect, and the bullet has to go somewhere, I’m sure Commander Woods would appreciate it if it didn’t put a hole in the side of her ship.”

“I’ve got just the thing,” Lexa said, walking over to the armory maintenance area and picking up the gun which sat there, the one that was loaded with practice bullets, she turned back and walked over to where Madi was now standing, “practice rounds. I use these to keep my aim sharp. They will hurt if they hit you, but they won’t do any serious damage to you, any person in this room, or my ship.”

“You’re sure about this?” Ryder asked as he looked at Lexa.

“She can’t learn to keep herself safe if you’ve just got her moving objects,” Lexa said with a small nod, standing a little distance away from Madi and raising her gun in the young girl’s direction, “you ready?”

“Are you just going to shoot it at me or are you going to give me a count?” Madi asked.

“Sure,” Lexa said with a nod, “3, 2…”

On two Lexa pulled the trigger, her gun aimed slightly to Madi’s right so the round missed her completely when the young girl failed to raise a barrier, which Lexa assumed she would do.

“What happened to 1, you know, the number that comes after 2 in a count down?” Madi asked, placing her hands on her hips as she looked at Lexa.

“You really think that if someone is going to shoot at you they’ll actually tell you they’re going to shoot at you?” Lexa asked in reply.

“Well, no, I guess not…” Madi said.

“So we’ll try that again.” Lexa said with a small smile.

This time as soon as she lifted her gun she fired, Madi was ready for it this time and raised a barrier which deflected the bullet. The practice round flying off in the direction of the shuttle.

“Hey,” Octavia said, ducking a little even though she knew the round wouldn’t get passed the shields that ALIE had raised around the shuttle, “watch where you’re deflecting your shit, short stuff.”

“Accident.” Madi said with a shrug, “and I’m not that much shorter than you are.”

“You’re still shorter.” Octavia replied.

Lexa looked over to the shuttle, she could see Clarke’s eyes fixed on a spot on the floor of the shuttle bay, she hadn’t even reacted to the practice round flying in her general direction.

“Clarke,” Lexa said, “you okay?”

The blonde didn’t blink or even acknowledge that Lexa had spoken to her.

“Space to Griffin,” Octavia said, nudging her a little, “you still in there?”

Clarke blinked and shook her head a little.

“Sorry, what?” she said, looking at Octavia, her brow furrowed a little.

“You zoned out on us for a minute there,” Octavia said, “you okay?”

“Yeah,” Clarke replied with a tight-lipped smile and a small nod, “I’m good.”

“Okay,” Lexa said, “I think we’re done down here for now.”

Clarke moved to stand up, suddenly feeling like the shuttle bay was spinning, she steadied herself by gripping onto the side of the shuttle.

“What’s the matter?” Octavia asked, standing next to the blonde as Lexa walked over to them.

“I… my…” Clarke started to say as she blinked a few times, “I can’t get my eyes to focus… everything is blurry…”

Lexa looked at Ryder.

“Get Nyko.” She said, the man nodding in reply as he headed towards the elevator, “sit down, Clarke…”

The blonde nodded a little as she sat back down.

“Do you still have a headache?” Lexa asked as she crouched down in front of the blonde.

“Yeah,” Clarke said with a nod, “it feels like someone is drilling in my brain.”

“Does that usually happen? And the blurred vision thing?” Lexa asked, looking between Clarke and Octavia, the younger girl shrugging slightly, indicating that she had no idea.

“No…” Clarke said, shaking her head a little, wincing as she did, “I haven’t had a headache this bad in a while… something must have triggered it.”

“Something like what?” Octavia asked as she looked at Lexa.

Lexa glanced behind her and looked at Madi, before she looked back at Clarke.

“When’s the last time you were in a confined space with someone using biotics?” Lexa asked, her attention back on the blonde.

“That can’t cause headaches.” Clarke said, shaking her head, “we have biotics on the Arkadia…”

“Biotics that you’re only allowed to be around for a short period of time when they’re using their abilities…” Octavia said, causing both Clarke and Lexa to look at her, “what?”

“That’s a general guideline for everyone on the ship, it’s not just me.” The blonde replied.

“I didn’t get told about any guidelines like that when I joined the ship.” The younger girl said with a shrug.

“Madi,” Lexa said, glancing behind her at the young girl, “fire up that barrier again.”

“The use of biotics around someone don’t cause headaches, Commander,” Clarke said, looking at Lexa, “I’m a doctor, I’m aware of this shit.”

“Humor me.” Lexa replied.

“Fine, and when you’re wrong…” Clarke started to say, stopping as Madi raised a barrier, the blonde’s hands going to her head.

“You were saying…” Lexa said with a sigh as she stood up, she looked at Octavia, “get her to the med-bay.”

“Sure thing.” Octavia said with nod as she stood up, “come on Clarke.”

As the two walked towards the elevator Madi walked up next to Lexa.

“I did that?” Madi asked.

“Not intentionally,” Lexa said, glancing down at the young girl, “she’s right when she says that the use of biotics around someone doesn’t cause headaches…”

“So what’s going on then?” the young girl asked.

“I don’t know yet.” Lexa replied.

“You could ask ALIE, she might know, she knows a lot.” Madi said with a nod.

“We’ll see what Nyko says first.” Lexa said with a small smile, “you hungry?”

Madi nodded a little.

“Let’s get you something to eat then.” The brunette replied, motioning for Madi to go with her to the elevator.

  


  


**Author's Note:**

> Any questions or concerns, drop me a comment.


End file.
